We first met our friend and guide Dap at Hanoi airport. Having several big bags with us, we thought it would be impossible to get to the city center on two motorbikes with all our stuff. But Dap disperesed our fear of a first-time-in-our-lives motorbike trip by saying: "Everything is possible, don't worry". And indeed, we safely arrived to Hanoi and that phrase has become our moto throughout the whole journey.
The main part of our contribution as volunteers was running in Pho To town, where we lived for a while and visited different schools. The striking fact we noticed was that being a small provincial town Pho To has a plenty of educational institutions. For us it meant a great opportunity for interconnection and knowledge exchange.
Our job mostly consisted in providing conversational English to pupils aged from 5 to 15. And it was so great to see and feel how cordially teachers and pupils welcomed us, ready to communicate and improve their English-speaking skills and make new friends.
With their fiery eyes they made us feel overwhelmed with energy and inspiration to give and share. There was nothing but pleasure to be there and see their smiles, learn and talk to them, laugh, sing and dance all together... and of course, to make many pictures for the memory. So by the end of every single lesson we saw how confident and pleased they became. And so did we.
Apart from teaching and communicating with children, we felt a huge support from an enthusiastic great team of «Stand by You». These guys were always with us sharing their experience, ideas and willingness to help people become stronger, more confident and happy.
As a result, thanks to them we were not only teaching but also learning a lot ourselves.
After being a part of this movement, it became clear to us how significantly such organizations as «Stand by You» change people's lives shedding the light where it's needed by bringing knowledge, cross-cultural input and joy for everyone who wants to expand the horizons.
We believe that «Stand by You» does a priceless work and unites people via education, entertainment and not indifferent philosophy.
And now we believe that any person, of any age and from any country or profession can contribute to the society and make this world a little bit better every day.
Volunteering is a huge step into a great future. Because nothing makes a person as rich as Giving and Sharing.
Thank you, Dap for your devotion to what you do and for the ideas you spread.
Thank you, Stand By You for the opportunity you gave us to see and feel like local people and to make our contribution to your movement.
Thank you, Vietnam for bringing up wonderful, smiley and open-hearted people that we met on our way and will never forget.
"Everything is possible, don't worry”.
Olga and Kate
See more our photos HERE
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